The United Nations Command cannot accept custody of these prisoners of war in accordance with the terms of your proposal. However, in view of your stated intention to release unilaterally the prisoners of war starting 20 January, the United Nations Command must necessarily be prepared to arrange for their accommodation and disposition. In processing these personnel, after they leave the demilitarized zone, it must be clearly understood that we do so out of regard for humanitarian consideration and in order to insure the prisoners the fullest possible continued enjoyment of the benefits the agreement was designed to assure to them. The United Nations Command, in accordance with the agreement on prisoners of war, will honor its obligation to treat them as fully entitled to their freedom as civilians on 23 January. You are already aware of the detailed plans for processing which have been made by the United Nations Command. The return to the United Nations Command of personnel prior to 2300 1 January can only be regarded as a failure by the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission fully to discharge its duties, but this failure will in no way, it must be emphasized, affect the right of prisoners of war to become civilians at that time regardless of their physical location.

Accordingly, I have instructed the Commanding General, Eighth United States Army,' to adjust his present plans to permit handling and processing of personnel beginning 20 January. He will, as a matter of priority, make the necessary arrangements with you.2

99. REPORTS OF UNITED STATES PRISONERS OF WAR HELD IN SOVIET CUSTODY: Note From the American Embassy at Moscow to the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs, May 5, 1954 3

The Embassy of the United States of America presents its compliments to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and has the honor to request the Ministry's assistance in the following matter:

The United States Government has recently received reports which support earlier indications that American prisoners of war who had seen action in Korea have been transported to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and that they are now in Soviet custody. The United States Government desires to receive urgently all information available to the Soviet Government concerning these American personnel and to arrange their repatriation at the earliest possible time.

1 Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor.

For the reports of the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission for the period Sept. 9, 1953-Feb. 21, 1954, see U.N. General Assembly, Official Records, Eighth Session, Supplement No. 18 (A/2641). For the report of the U.N. Command on the operation of the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission, see ibid., Supplement No. 19 (A/2642).

3 Department of State Bulletin, May 24, 1954, p. 785. For the text of the Soviet denial of May 12, see ibid.

100. ACCOUNTING FOR MISSING UNITED NATIONS PERSONNEL: Statement by the Senior United Nations Representative on the Military Armistice Commission,' August 17, 1954 2

On the ninth of September, 1953, we presented to your side a list of the names of United Nations Command personnel who, according to our best available information, were prisoners of war held by your side in the months immediately preceding the end of active hostilities in Korea and who were not returned to our side in the programs of prisoner exchange. As subsequently amended, the list currently in your hands totals 3,405 individuals. The reason that we gave you these amendments from time to time was because of our sincere desire to provide your side with the most accurate information possible so that a satisfactory accounting could be made by your side for these prisoners of war.

Because of the fact that additional information has recently become available which warrants the deletion of a considerable number of names from the list currently in your possession and since further amendments to the original list might create confusion, we have prepared a completely new list for your use. This new list supersedes and replaces all previous information we have presented you on this subject. I now hand you a list containing the names of 2,840 United Nations Command personnel who we are convinced were in your hands and whom we consider as not having been accounted for in a satisfactory manner. The names of persons of Korean nationality are listed in the Korean language, all others are listed in English.

The difference between this new list and previous lists furnished amounts to 418 United States personnel, 1 British soldier, and 146 Republic of Korea personnel. These deletions are largely persons determined to be deceased or, particularly in the case of some of the Korean persons, found to have been repatriated.

The United Nations Command is desirous of securing a complete report as to the current status of each of these persons. If they are currently held in North Korea, Manchuria, China, or elsewhere, the location of the place of custody and the reason therefor is requested. If they are deceased, that information should also be furnished together with any additional details available regarding cause of death and place of burial, including an indication that the remains will be returned in the exchange program beginning on 1 September 1954.

During the recent negotiations at Geneva it was developed that certain of the prisoners are being held in China. We are particularly interested in obtaining information regarding these individuals. Since their captive status resulted from the conflict in Korea, it is appropriate that the necessary exchange of information concerning both the place of detention and reason therefor be conducted here in this commission. It is requested that for each name in this category the reason for detention and the time and place of their expected release be furnished to our side.

1 Rear Adm. T. B. Brittain.

'Department of State Bulletin, Sept. 13, 1954, p. 379.

The families of the personnel in this unaccounted-for category are anxious to reach an early and satisfactory settlement of this entire problem. Accordingly, immediately upon receipt from your side of a complete accounting by name for each of these 2,840 United Nations Command personnel, in return and as evidence of our sincerity in desiring to exchange the most complete information available on the present status of former prisoners of war, we are prepared to present to your side an explanation by individual name for the 98,739 personnel of your side on the list you submitted to our side on 21 September 1953. It is proposed that this exchange of information will be reciprocal and simultaneous. Such an exchange of information will contribute greatly to the successful accomplishment of our mission of negotiations here in the Military Armistice Commission. I await your reply as to when you expect to be able to furnish the information we have requested and thereby expedite the receipt of the information you desire regarding your list.

101. PROTEST OF IMPRISONMENT OF UNITED STATES PRISONERS OF WAR BY THE CHINESE COMMUNISTS: Note From the United States Government to the Chinese Communist Authorities (Transmitted by the British Embassy at Peiping), November 26, 1954 1

The United States Government vigorously protests the wrongful action of the Chinese Communist authorities in sentencing on November 23rd eleven members of the United States Armed Forces and two American civilians employed by the Department of the Army to terms of imprisonment on political charges which are without foundation. These Americans were in planes which were attacked over the recognized combat zone in Korea, or over international waters, in the course of the Chinese Communist aggression against Korea. Their detention is in patent violation of the Korean Armistice Agree

ment.

The sentencing of the members of the United States Armed Forces to penitentiary terms in these circumstances is grossly contrary to the substance and spirit of all recognized international standards as to the protection of prisoners of war. The maltreatment of the two civilian American citizens, whose names were willfully and deceitfully withheld by the Chinese Communist representatives at Geneva last June from the list of American civilians held in Chinese Communist jails, is equally reprehensible.

The United States Government calls upon the Chinese Communist authorities to release these unjustly detained American nationals

1 Department of State Bulletin, Dec. 6, 1954, pp. 856-857. See also statement of Nov. 23, 1954, by the Department of State; ibid., p. 856.

2 For the text of the announcement of this sentence by the Chinese Communist authorities, see Documents on American Foreign Relations, 1954 (New York, 1955), pp. 348–352.

forthwith, in accordance with the provisions of the Korean Armistice Agreement and in conformity with the elementary precepts of justice and humanity.

The Chinese Communist authorities are under an obligation to redress in so far as possible the wrong they have inflicted on these American nationals and their families. The United States Government reserves the right to claim compensation as may be determined appropriate, and to demand the punishment of the Chinese Communist officials responsible for the denial of the rights of these persons. The Chinese Communist authorities should bear in mind that the long list of Chinese Communist outrages against American nationals, which the American people have borne with restraint thus far, is significantly extended by the Chinese Communist announcement of November 23rd.

102. COMMUNIST DETENTION OF UNITED NATIONS PERSONNEL: Letter and Explanatory Memorandum From the United States Representative at the United Nations to the U.N. Secretary-General, December 4, 1954 2

The Government of the United States of America, as the Unified Command of United Nations forces in Korea, proposes herewith the inclusion of the following additional item in the agenda of the ninth regular session of the General Assembly:

"Complaint of detention and imprisonment of United Nations military personnel in violation of the Korean Armistice Agreement". Pursuant to rule 20 of the rules of procedure, an explanatory memorandum is attached.

In view of the urgency and importance of this item, I request that a meeting of the General Committee be convened at the earliest possible moment.

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

COMPLAINT OF DETENTION AND IMPRISONMENT OF UNITED NATIONS MILITARY PERSONNEL IN VIOLATION OF THE KOREAN ARMISTICE AGREEMENT

A United States Air Force B-29 type aircraft, on a mission of the United Nations Command in Korea, was attacked fifteen miles south of the Yalu River near the North Korean town of Sonchon and shot down on 12 January 1953. The officers and men of the United States Air Force on the plane were captured. More than a year and a half later, and long after the conclusion of the Korean Armistice Agreement providing for the release of all captured personnel desir

1 Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.

2U.N. doc. A/2830, Dec. 4, 1954; see also Department of State Bulletin, Dec. 20, 1954, pp. 931 ff.

ing repatriation, eleven officers and men from the above-mentioned aircraft were brought before a Chinese Communist military tribunal and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.

This is a clear-cut violation of the Armistice Agreement.

The United States Government first learned of this action by the Chinese Communist authorities through a broadcast of the Peking radio on 24 November 1954. Immediately thereafter, the United States Government sought to communicate with the Chinese Communist authorities, both directly in Geneva and through the United Kingdom Government, to protest this serious violation of the Korean Armistice Agreement. The Chinese Communist authorities rejected these representations.

The Government and people of the United States are shocked and outraged by the treatment thus accorded to its airmen who were serving the cause of peace under the Charter, and hold these same feelings for the men of other nations who are held prisoner. The Governments of other nations having troops in Korea share this feeling of indignation at this violation of the Armistice Agreement.

The United States believes this conduct of the Chinese Communist authorities has created a serious situation for the United Nations, which called for the action in Korea to repel Communist aggression, and which requested the United States to provide a Unified Command of United Nations forces in Korea. The United States believes the United Nations must now act promptly and decisively to bring about the release of these eleven officers and men and all other captured personnel of the United Nations Command still detained.

103. COMMUNIST DETENTION OF UNITED NATIONS PERSONNEL: Resolution 906 (IX) of the United Nations General Assembly, December 10, 1954

The General Assembly,

Having considered the item proposed by the United States of America as the Unified Command regarding eleven members of the United States armed forces under the United Nations Command captured by Chinese forces when undertaking a mission on 12 January 1953, at the direction of the United Nations Command.

Recalling the provisions of article III of the Korean Armistice Agreement regarding the repatriation of prisoners of war,

1. Declares that the detention and imprisonment of the eleven American airmen, members of the United Nations Command, referred to in document A/2830,2 and the detention of all other captured personnel of the United Nations Command desiring repatriation is a violation of the Korean Armistice Agreement;

2. Condemns, as contrary to the Korean Armistice Agreement, the

1 U.N. General Assembly, Official Records, Ninth Session, Supplement No. 21 (A/2890), p. 56.

2 Supra.